There’s an odd procedure that Biscuits pitcher J.D. Martin follows when introducing himself to a catcher for the first time.

It goes beyond the usual names and handshakes, delves well past the normal signs and habits, and goes somewhere admittedly strange in baseball.

Martin hands them a catcher’s mitt.

“He brought it out to the mound,” catcher Mac James said of his first encounter with catching James at this year’s spring training.

“He handed it to me, and I handed mine to a coach, who took it back to the dugout.”

Martin, you see, is that seemingly rare sight in the minor leagues, that endangered species that — except for the seemingly rare major league success story — is looked upon as a bare-knuckled, sharp-nailed novelty.

Martin is a knuckleballer.

The right-hander found success as a “normal” pitcher, just not enough to stay in the major leagues, and is trying to make it back with his own no-spin zone.

He’s in his third year in the attempt, which involves a complete overhaul of his past approach and a massive infusion of patience.

“It was harder to learn than I anticipated,” Martin said. “Just trying to stay consistent with my mechanics is tough.”

J.D. Martin started 24 major league games for the Washington Nationals from 2009-10.(Photo: Michael R. Brown/Gannett)

Martin, who made 24 starts with the Washington Nationals from 2009-10, first heard knuckleball suggestions in 2011 while in Triple-A. A Nationals coach — ironically named Spin Williams — said he should consider it.

“I had been in the starting rotation for the Nationals before, and I was in Triple A and throwing well,” Martin said. “I could understand if I wasn’t pitching well, but I was.”

J.D. Martin went 16-4 with a 2.75 ERA for Tampa Bay's Triple-A Durham Bulls in 2013, well before he started throwing a knuckleball.(Photo: Gannett file)

Over the next five years, Martin stayed a “normal” pitcher, even going 16-4 in 2013 with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A Durham affiliate. He spent 2014 with a team in Korea, an experience he said that he and his family still cherish.

But, in 2016, he remembered Spin’s no-spin suggestion and decided to give it a try.

The Nationals even re-signed him.

That year, he pitched at four different levels in Washington’s minor league system, capped by an eight-inning start for Double-A Harrisburg. In 2017, a spring training oblique injury put him on the early-season shelf.

He made one start — in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League — and was released.

“After the oblique injury, they never gave me an opportunity after that,” Martin said.

J.D. Martin was in the major leagues with the Washington Nationals in 2009-10. Martin, whose pro career began in 2001, has hit two career home runs.(Photo: Gannett file)

But Martin piqued the interest of the Rays, who have flirted with minor league knuckleballers recently.

Jared Mortensen tried it in 2016 with the Biscuits. Chris Pike and Jeff Howell have made the attempt at other levels, which was all of James’ previous knuckleball-catching experience.

“I’ve caught knuckleball pitchers, but not very often,” James said.

The Rays even have a coach who specializes in it, former major league knuckleballer Charlie Haeger. Haeger’s presence, Martin said, gives him some comfort.

“He’s been through what I’m going through now,” Martin said. “The Nationals didn’t have anybody who had gone through it.”

Biscuits manager Brady Williams has previously coached a knuckleballer with, he admits, little success. That pitcher, he said, differed from Martin in a major way.

“The first guy wasn’t really sold on being a knuckleballer,” Williams said. “It was difficult for me to watch it and for him to do it.

“J.D. has a different mindset. He embraces the fact that he’s a knuckleballer.”

Some days, the knuckleball will flutter, juke and jive its way to the catcher — or maybe even the backstop. The pitcher racks up strikes, weakly hit groundballs and, sometimes, a flabbergasted look from a batter.

Other days, the knuckleball stays straight or goes wild, which can be trying on the pitcher’s and his coaches’ souls.

“So far, everyone has been patient with it. You have to be,” Haeger said. “It’s a much-different way of pitching. You have to be patient with it.”

Martin’s knuckleball, compared to say past major league knuckleball stars Phil Niekro or Tim Wakefield, has extra velocity. He throws it between 72-80 mph, though usually 77-80, he said.

R.A. Dickey, a 120-game winner over the last 15 years, threw his in the low 80s.

“J.D. throws his hard,” James said. “Very hard.”

Martin fully admits he’s still tinkering with it. Learning the knuckleball is a process that he’s been told — by Haeger and Wakefield and others knuckleballers he’s talked to — can take as long as three years.

The 35-year-old Martin said he’s hoping the Rays will stay patient.

“No doubt. If not, I’ll go crazy and probably drive him crazy,” Williams said. “But I’ve watched him this spring and I’m excited to see him here.

“It’s a very competitive pitch. If it stays competitive, I think he’ll have success.”